American Vandal Is Refreshing

Netflix’s new 8-part crime mockumentary, reinvents the dick joke in honestly the best way possible.

(NETFLIX)Remember how everyone went crazy for Making A Murderer a few years back? It took the world by storm, and made people question authority and the justice system. It was an interesting take on a criminal case, and a fresh new documentary, that got people talking. Now think about it again, but this time, instead of murder, it’s about a person drawing dicks on cars. Yeah, you’re already sold. I haven’t binged watched something in a very long time, but I sat down, and watched all 8 episodes in a row of American Vandal, because honestly from the opening few minutes it had me hooked, and just laughing out loud.

First things firsts, this is not real, and I pray to god you didn’t think that at any point during the show. That being said, it shouldn’t take away anything from your viewing experience, because this is just really well done. They take the premise of Making A Murderer and add a little Freaks and Geeks, and high school drama/humour and come away with a pretty impressive product. Everyone loves a good dick joke, some more than others, but an entire 8 episode show about dicks, call me crazy, it works, and works really well. Netflix isn’t reinventing the wheel here, but they are doing something completely and utterly different, and turning something that was very compelling, into something that is actually also very compelling.

So the story is about Dylan Maxwell, who is the class clown in his high school. He’s a burnout, an idiot and overall just a pretty stupid kid. Jimmy Tatro who plays Dylan, you might recognize him from 22 Jump Street, does such an incredible job here, portraying just an absolute stoner idiot. I was really impressed with him, he comes off as a cool guy, but who doesn’t know when to quit sometimes. He’s not very popular in school, besides his friends known as the “Way Back Boys”, because well they all go way back. Dylan has a certain reputation in school, and when one day, 27 dicks are spray-painted onto 27 different cars, that happen to belong to teachers, well all fingers pointed to Dylan. He was a known dick drawer in school, and wore that with a badge of honour. He loved drawing them and was quite proud to have this reputation in school. Here’s the thing, Dylan says he didn’t draw the dicks, so who did? When Peter and Sam, somewhat friends of Dylan’s because they all work together at the morning news show decide they want to prove his innocence. There are a ton of great twists and turns throughout the show, they make you go one way, then totally flip you on your head. They do a great job at trying to keep you guessing, because everyone episode you think someone new drew the dicks, that’s why you got so involved and invested into the show. All the great high school stereotypes are involved here also, and they do a wonderful job playing into all of those roles. Alex Trimboli, remember that name, because you will HATE that guy.

From there they go on to make a documentary called American Vandal, and start digging deeper into this story, and want nothing more than the truth. No spoilers in here, when I saw the trailer I didn’t think this show was real. Until recently when I saw it was going to be released yesterday. I’ll say this about American Vandal, the show is just really well done. This is a real crime drama, it’s hilariously funny, but yet can be very serious, I know this show is about dicks. But the way they go about doing it all, makes it so interesting and compelling, and after the first episode, all you want to know is who drew the dicks? The show is about more than just dicks, it’s got some really great high school humour involved, about sexual conquests, drinking your first beer, and incredibly funny interactions with teachers. Take my word for it, you should really sit down and watch this show, because soon enough, someone will probably ask you, who do you think drew the dicks? I know that dick jokes can be common and over done and even juvenile, but not this time. They have managed to make one of the most over used and easiest jokes to make, and turned it into a work of art. I was pissed it was only 8 episodes long, because you kind of get entranced with these characters and almost start to feel for some of them.

I was so invested into this story, and when it was all over, I didn’t know what to think, I know they told one of the best dick jokes I’ve ever heard, and I haven’t laughed this much at a television show in a very long time. But I think I was more impressed with the execution of the show more than anything, it felt real, it wanted you to believe it was, and overall it was just so well done. They pull you in from the cliff-hanger ending of episode one, and from there you just want to get to the bottom of this crazy dick joke story. Something like this shouldn’t be as good as it was, because it’s about dicks, and that could have gone either way, but they nailed it. They really did, and I’m excited to see if they do something like this again, I might even re-watch it, so I can try to find more clues to this mystery, because at the end of the day, who drew the dicks?

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Wannabe Movie Critic

Hey Guys & Girls.
Ever since I can remember, I have loved movies, pop culture and everything geek and nerd related. So I have decided to start writing my thoughts on things that I love.
Just a wannabe movie critic, trying to make it big
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